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Barbara Nelson was Barack = Obama's English teacher in high school in Hawaii."=20 href=3D"http://media.buffalonews.com/smedia/2009/01/20/12/75-0120homelife= .standalone.prod_affiliate.50.jpg"=20 rel=3Dlightbox[group]> 3D""=20

Barbara Nelson was Barack Obama's English teacher = in high=20 school in Hawaii.=20

Sharon Cantillon / Buffalo=20 News

Updated:=20 01/20/09 08:17 AM

Teacher from Kenmore recalls Obama was a focused student

By Paula Voell

NEWS STAFF REPORTER

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When Barack Hussein Obama places his hand on the Bible today to take = the oath=20 of office as 44th president of the United States, Barbara Nelson of = Kenmore will=20 undoubtedly think back to the day he was born. It was Aug. 4, 1961, at=20 Kapi=92olani Medical Center for Women & Children in Honolulu.

=93I may be the only person left who specifically remembers his = birth. His=20 parents are gone, his grandmother is gone, the obstetrician who = delivered him is=20 gone,=94 said Nelson, referring to Dr. Rodney T. West, who died in = February at the=20 age of 98. Here=92s the story: Nelson was having dinner at the Outrigger = Canoe=20 Club on Waikiki Beach with Dr. West, the father of her college friend, = Jo-Anne.=20 Making conversation, Nelson turned to Dr. West and said: =93=91So, tell = me something=20 interesting that happened this week,=92=94 she recalls.

His response: =93Well, today, Stanley had a baby. Now that=92s = something to write=20 home about.=94

The new mother was Stanley (later referred to by her middle name of = Ann)=20 Dunham, and the baby was Barack Hussein Obama.

=93I penned the name on a napkin, and I did write home about it,=94 = said Nelson,=20 knowing that her father, Stanley A. Czurles, director of the Art = Education=20 Department at Buffalo State College, would be interested in the = =93Stanley=94=20 connection.

She also remembers Dr. West mentioning that the baby=92s father was = the first=20 black student at the University of Hawaii and how taken he was by the = baby=92s=20 name.

=93I remember Dr. West saying =91Barack Hussein Obama, now that=92s a = musical=20 name,=92=94 said Nelson, who grew up in Kenmore and went to Hawaii in = 1959 to be in=20 Jo-Anne=92s wedding party. When Nelson was offered a job as a newspaper = reporter=20 and photographer at her friend=92s wedding reception, it led to her = living in=20 Hawaii for 47 years. She returned to Kenmore in 2006.

Ten years after that memorable birth announcement, Nelson would hear = the=20 Obama name again. This time, the father, now a Kenyan government = official, was=20 coming to speak at the Punahou School in Honolulu where Nelson was = teaching and=20 where his 10-year-old son was a newly enrolled fifth-grader.

=93Dr. Obama had this lovely, attentive manner,=94 she said. =93When = he answered=20 the children=92s questions, he would do it as a story, which is the way = they do it=20 in Kenya.

=93His son, whom he hadn=92t seen in eight years, seemed as = fascinated as we all=20 were,=94 said Nelson, who went on to be a high school principal, a = harpist, a=20 watercolor artist and poet.

A few years later, Nelson encountered =93Barry=94 again, when she = watched high=20 school basketball games, where her students played.

=93The team came alive when he got on the court,=94 she said. =93He = was not only=20 quick and graceful, but he could see the pattern and zero in on the = opening.=20 Though he wasn=92t a starter, he was a graceful, passionate athlete who = played=20 back-up forward. He had a definite presence on the court.

=93I often sat with his grandmother, who was a no-nonsense woman with = these=20 very solid Midwestern ways about her,=94 said Nelson. =93She loved that = boy and he=20 adored her.=94

As a high school teacher of British, Biblical and Middle Eastern = literature,=20 Nelson taught Obama.

=93He wasn=92t usually the first one to speak, but he was an = attentive, active=20 listener,=94 she said. =93While the others might be bouncing off the = surface, he=20 came straight from the center. He picked up on the patterns of ideas and = then=20 he=92d make a statement that moved the class to the focal point.

=93He also had a lovely, engaging sense of humor,=94 Nelson said. = =93He was firm,=20 but he wasn=92t aggressive or in your face.=94

During one class the question was posed =93of what should we be most = afraid,=94=20 drawing answers that included =93death,=94 =93hell,=94 =93biological = warfare,=94 =93fear=94 and=20 =93isolation,=94 said Nelson.

=93I recall Barack sitting in the back of the room,=94 Nelson said, = demonstrating=20 a hands-behind-his- head pose and describing his lanky, outstretched = legs.

=93When he pulled himself upright I thought =91Bingo. Here we go,=92 = =94 she said,=20 expecting the discussion to move to a new level.

=93And he said, =91Words. Words are the power to be feared most. = Every individual=20 has an unmonitored arsenal and whether they are directed personally or=20 internationally, words can be weapons of destruction.=94

It was such moments that led Nelson to honor Obama at his 1979 = graduation=20 with the traditional draping of a lei around his neck.

=93I had a yellow plumeria tree and I could get only enough blossoms = to make=20 five leis,=94 she said. =93I had taught more than 200 students, but one = of those=20 leis went around the shoulders of Barack Obama.=94

Years later, the ideas Obama expressed resonated as Nelson wrote = =93War of the=20 Words,=94 which includes the lines: =93 I fear the powerful = pugnacious=20 words, Weapons that miss the flesh and pierce the = heart.=94=20 (Songs of Honor, 2006).

In the author=92s notes, Nelson describes the classroom discussion = with Obama=20 that inspired the poem and she adds this information: =93Interestingly, = this=20 former student is now a very wise, articulate U. S. senator.=94

pvoell@buffnews.com<= /A>

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